Malaysia's first Prime Minister declares Independence in 1957 at the Stadium Negara. |
The flat ground at the centre of the padang was a favourite spot where cricket and other sports were attempted. But it was not until 1894 when the acting resident, Sir Ernest Birch, a keen cricketer had the remaining marshy land at one end of the parade ground near Chartered Bank filled and turfed. A cricket pitch was laid. The extension of the padang meant that cricket could then be played on a full sized pitch. But that was never to be, as the current cricket club members found out not too long ago that the Padang was never wide enough to fit the oval pitch, about 29metres out of a squeeze. For years, cricket matches at the padang became social events for the European community. Cricket fever had risen to heights unimaginable. It seemed that many a time, applicants for government positions were recruited on their ability to play cricket. We can still catch a game of cricket on the grounds some evenings but the national popularity of the sport has now somewhat fizzled out and is replaced by soccer, badminton and hockey.
The Merdeka day celebrations on 31st August
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Perhaps the most grandiose event held at the padang in the era of the colonial empire was the celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The immense task of levelling the entire padang had been completed and preparations were underway for the big occasion. There was a bullock cart parade, a water fete, carriage parade, theaters, flower and fruit show, all sorts of fun and games for the children; and even a fancy dress ball in the evening where anyone who attended the ball without fancy dress had to pay an entrance fee of $5. Droves of people turned up for this wonderful display of gaiety and were treated to a memorable day; perhaps even a certain comradeship of peoples was achieved for a little while.
The Padang today remains the epicentre of Kuala Lumpur's celebrations and commemorations. Every year, the Independence Day celebration is held here on the 31st of August and celebrated with as much gusto as was the first, 45 years ago. On normal days, locals come to the Padang for a stroll and to admire the display of lights in the evenings particularly on weekends. A large TV screen to the left of the Padang entertains the crowd.
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But a little known monument lies tucked away on this side of the field. A fountain was commissioned and brought in from England in 1897 to be installed at the market square but the police opposed this as the ornament might obstruct traffic flow in the congested area. It was relocated to a place 50m from its present position. The fountain fell into disuse for a long time until the recent construction of the underground leisure and theatre centre, beneath the Padang. Now as we see it, the fountain has been restored to its glorious past. In 1926, the padang was used for a reason very different from the normal sporting event and parades. Continuous torrential rains burst the banks of the river and flooded the entire low area. Despite making every effort to seal the vaults in the basement of the Standard Chartered building, the torrents of water proved too much. After the waters had subsided, millions of dollars in bank notes were taken from the vaults to dry in the sun on the padang under the watchful eye of armed guards, of course. How tempting that scene would have been for so many of us!
Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered then called the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China set up their first branch in Kuala Lumpur in 1888 on the invitation of the resident. Not long after, the construction of their own building began, sited close to the barracks and the fort for obvious security reasons. It was to be their main office in Kuala Lumpur until their new location in Leboh Ampang was established. The old building now houses the National Museum of History. The architect commissioned to design this building was A.C. Norman. Which explains the synergistic design with the Sultan Abdul Samad Building.
The Sultan Abdul Samad Building
At the age of 25, Arthur Charles Alfred Norman was sent to Selangor where he worked in the Public Works Department and by the age of 32 had risen to the specialist post of the government architect. It is believed that State Engineer Charles Spooner who had served in Ceylon before introduced the Moorish influence in the architectural style. He maintained that the Muhammadan style would be more in keeping with the environment than the Classical Renaissance proposed by Norman and his colleague Bidwell.
Sultan Abdul Samad, the Sultan of Selangor took a train ride from Klang to Kuala Lumpur to attend the official opening of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building in 1897.Courtesy of Arkib Negara. |
Work started on the area in 1894 and the Governor of the Straits Settlement was invited to lay the foundation stone . In the cavity under the foundation stone, the Governor placed a yen, some straits coins, a piece of Selangor tin from the Straits Trading Company and a copy of Selangor Journal, the local newsletter. Norman's name too appears on the foundation stone.
The entire project took just over 3 years to complete at the cost of 152,000 straits dollars. The advice from Governor Sir William Maxwell certainly made its mark when he noted that; ' a few effective looking buildings would give an air of prosperity to Selangor.'. Senior officials and journalists travelled from Singapore for the official opening ceremony.
The exterior was floodlit by gas burners and for the inaugural ball, inside was lit by electricity although regular electricity was not available in KL for another 10 years. Many came with much cynicism that Kuala Lumpur could never become the leading town of the Federated Malay States, but were flabbergasted to find such fine creation and dedication to a frontier town, as they believed it to be. The building was originally constructed to house the Secretariat offices of Selangor, and was later occupied by the Selangor State Government Treasury and the Marriage Registry.
The building was later named Sultan Abdul Samad after the Sultan of Selangor. Now it houses the Federal and High Courts of the Justice Department. Other government buildings were constructed during this era. The former city hall building and town hall and the old supreme court across the river close to Masjid Jamek which was the former city mosque. The Federated Malay States Survey Office building located adjacent to the Sultan Abdul Samad Building and the former general post office completed the city's skyline in the 1890's. All these buildings now house various sectors of the justice department.
The plaque placed at the main entrance to SAS building |
During the great flood of 1926, a young lawyer made a wager that he could swim from the steps of the long bar veranda at Selangor Club to the King Edward VII statue under the clock tower at the Sultan Abdul Samad Building without putting his foot down. He won! The flood was so devastating that finally the British made a decision to straighten the river channel which proved effective. The sweeping torrents of heavy rainfall further upriver in subsequent years no longer created floods in the vicinity. In 1930, a tiger was seen being swept downstream in the rushing waters and was to be the last time a tiger was ever spotted in the centre of town.
The Royal Selangor Club
Old entrance to Selangor Club. In the early days, horses were 'parked' out here on the porch |
Arthur Norman's work experience in Plymouth, England on the restoration of Tudor houses and Gothic country churches gave him much expertise in the designs of the Selangor Club and St.Mary's Church . The club started in 1884. A plank building capped with an atap roof, the club was fondly called 'the spotted dog'. Many attempts are made in explaining the name, but the most credible was that the rule was no race and class restrictions, although most Malays and Chinese chose not to use the club. Perhaps, there were differing views on how to have a good time? Or was it named after the pair of Dalmatians that always accompanied Mrs Syers, the Chief Police officer's wife, on her visits to the club? This was the place where the government officials would end up after a day's work. The women folk would come in the day to catch up with the week's stories.
One particular scandal, which no doubt had been widely discussed, was the Ethel Proudlock case of 1911. Ethel Proudlock was the wife of the acting headmaster of Victoria Institution, a prestigious boy's school. On 23rd of April 1911, she fired 6 shots into William Steward and killed him. At her trial, she maintained that Steward turned up at her house uninvited and had attempted to rape her. In defence, she said that' her hand came in contact with a revolver and with that she fired shots at Steward. But after 2 shots, Steward stumbled out of the house but Mrs Proudlock followed and fired another 4 shots into Steward as he lay on the floor.
Trial by jury was not instituted in the Malayan courts then, as it was believed that juries, especially Asians were unreliable. Mrs Proudlock was convicted of her crime by a judge and two assessors, who weren't convinced by her story. On the day before the murder witnesses had seen Steward with Mrs Proudlock at the Selangor Club. However, there was no evidence of their relationship. A scandal in such a tight community created a huge furore. The Sultan of Selangor gave Mrs Proudlock a pardon and she was quickly taken out of the country.
Years later, when the celebrated author, Somerset Maugham visited Malaya, he stayed with one of the lawyers who defended Mrs. Proudlock. The lawyer related the case to Maugham, who collected much material he needed to complete his book on Malayan short stories. The storyline was later a base for a Hollywood movie called 'The Letter' starring Bette Davies.
The Government Printing Press News of recent events such as the Ethel Proudlock case was reported in the Selangor Journal and the Selangor Government Gazette, both fortnightly newsletters. After the new Government offices were set up around the Padang, it was decided that for convenience, the Government Printing Press be built in the vicinity. All official documents were by then printed in KL for the administrative centre.
The Governmnent Printing Press
The old government printing press |
Together with the Public Works Department architects, J. Russell, then the government printer came up with the design of a building appropriate to holding a printing press. To allow space for the massive printing press machines, the interior had to be spacious and hence cast iron columns and trusses were the base of the structural support system. A colleague of Russell by name of Robson resigned from the Government service and set up his own printing press having secured a loan from the wealthy Loke Yew, a prominent businessman and leader of the Chinese business community at the turn of the 20th century.
This was to be the birth of Selangor's first newspaper, the Malay Mail which is now the only afternoon paper featuring predominantly events and news in Selangor.a great after lunch read for office workers in need of trivia. Selangor Club had its share of fine days when, Henri Fauconnier, a French planter and novelist wrote, ' the first Saturday of the month is Planter's Day. They appear early in the morning, by every train and every road, to fetch the pay money for the estate labourers from the bank. The town awakes in agitation like a nest of white ants invaded by red ants. There is a new element in the air - gay, brutal, reckless. Voices are more resonant and rickshaws go faster. This access of fever lasts until midday.' At the sound of a gun signal announcing the time at midday, the planters filed into their bar at the Club. Here he mentions the crowded state at the bar where,' the semicircular counter, edged by an unbroken line of lifted elbows was inaccessible'.
Then having had to tussle for drinks, moves on to his table where planters from his area in Kuala Selangor gathered to happily while the night away, downing quarts of 'stengahs' namely whiskey soda. As the bar closed for the night, planters would stagger on to the Coliseum Hotel for nightcaps before turning in for the night. After the bouts of merrymaking, the planters would trickle back to their far off rubber estates, sometimes on bicycles, already making plans for the next Planter's Day. Possibly, a visit to The Dispensary was a must, to lift the spirits before the journey.
The Federal Dispensary. courtesy of Arkib Negara Malaysia |
The Dispensary was in fact, a dispensary in every way as we are familiar with nowadays, where medicines are prescribed and sold. Except, that it was also stocked with all sorts of wines, spirits and liqueur. To give an idea of what could be bought in those days, which we can no longer find on our shelves .brewed ginger beer, Tennant's pale ale, Tennant's stout, G.A & Co.'s light shandy, dark shandy and Devonshire cider. It also sold cigars, revolvers, cartridge cases and ammunition.Definitely a prerequisite to living in the suburbs then!
One of the more renowned chapters in the club's history was the forming of the Hash House Harriers. The story goes that a group of Englishmen and Australians struck a wonderful idea of working off the weekend hangover by running. They indeed did feel better! And a club was formed. The fun-runs were held weekly and runners would follow a paper trail marking which the harrier, the forerunner, had laid out prior to the run. After the runs, the ravenous club members were subjected to truly unpalatable food, hash in fact! On contemplating the name for the club, the founders juggled the name around and came up with 'Hash House Harriers'. Members in the expatriate community had such fond memories of the HHH, that when they returned home or moved on to other countries, some even started their own HHH chapters there. In just over 60years, the fun-run had spread to 160 countries. Running in the rubber estates and secondary jungles in the old days were hair-raising sometimes to say the least.
Encounters with wildlife were normal occurrence, but stumbling into a communist hideout was something no one would have been prepared for. A member did just that on one of his runs. Luck was on his side as the communists were not aware of this intruder. As quietly as he could, he back tracked down the path and ran with all his might to the nearest police station. The ambush on the communist camp was successful. The excitement died down not long after but the story still remains popular to this day as documented in a book on the emergency period in Malaya called 'The War of the Running Dogs'.
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